The unknown culprits slashed one, two and even three tires on some vehicles.

Margie Martinez’s car left on Mills Avenue wasn’t damaged but the vandals flattened two tires on the Grand Am belonging to her husband, Hector, and one tire of the PT Cruiser owned by her brother, Nick Lujan.

The Grand Am and the Cruiser were parked in front of a garage on La Forge Street.

“I’ve never had anything like this in our neighborhood,” Margie Martinez said. “In the summer we get the occasional egg on the car. But this is total vandalism. It takes your sense of security.”

Webster said there were no other reports of similar vandalism this week.

Frank Lawrence who lives on Armley Avenue found out about the vandalism from a neighbor whose PT Cruiser was damaged.

His Dodge Ram pickup truck wasn’t spared; the vandals slashed the two tires nearest the curb. Lawrence had it towed. Replacing the tires cost him $200.

The longtime Whittier resident said this is the first time this has happened in this area, which he described as a quiet neighborhood.

“I hope it’s the last time. No one can afford this. With one tire you can jack up the car yourself. With two you have to call a tow truck,” Lawrence said.

Out of curiosity, Lawrence said he drove north of Gunn Avenue and hit the side streets. He saw fliers from Whittier Firestone on damaged vehicles.

Lawrence said he got handed one of the fliers but went instead to the shop he has frequented for years.

“I was kind of shocked when I saw that flier,” Lawrence said and wondered how the store knew which streets got affected.

Whittier Firestone store manager Danny Kostiuk said a man they previously hired to pass out fliers was driving on Gunn Avenue, saw the vandalism and told him about it.

He said he just drove up and down streets and put fliers on the ten cars he saw with flat tires. He said no one has taken him up on his offer.

“I offered my services. My offer to them is to sell the tires at my cost. And I offered to put the tires on without labor,” Kostiuk said.

He said he had nothing to do with the vandalism.

“I’m running a reputable business, I’m not going to go out and pop tires,” Kostiuk said.

“I see people put in a bad situation. I’m not there to make a profit,” he said, adding that he was just offering help.

Ruby Gonzales started working for the company in 1991. Since then she has written about cities, school districts, crimes, cold cases, courts, the San Gabriel River, local history, anime, insects, forensics and the early days of the Internet when people still referred to it as the "information superhighway." Her current beat includes breaking news, crimes and courts for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Whittier Daily News. When not in crime reporter mode, she frequents the remaining bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley, haunts craft stores or gets dragged to eateries by a relative who is a foodie.